


A Very Starkid Surprise

by TheOnlyVolunteer



Series: A Very Starkid Surprise [1]
Category: Starkid
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2014-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-06 21:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/740109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOnlyVolunteer/pseuds/TheOnlyVolunteer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What surprises will come for Team Starkid? Good or Bad? Little or Life-Changing? Just read and see...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys :) I don't own anything and the chapter sizes may change. Also, i may or may not be able to upload chapters as fast as you would like them to.

**Chapter 1**

“Darren and I have something very important to say. But you have to SHUT UP if you wanna hear it!”  
Joey was trying his best to simmer down the Starkids as they arrived at the airport in Chicago. They had just arrived from L.A. to tell them totally awesome news. Some may say it was completely stupid but they thought they’d all be glad to hear it.

“SHUT YOUR UNGODLY, LOPSIDED MOUTHS AND STOP INTERRUPTING! 10 points from all houses,” Dylan quickly intercepted each and every one of their conversations. And everyone was quiet after that. With a satisfied look he told them,” Now listen to them! It’s obviously they can’t contain it for one more second!”

_This is it! They’re gonna be soooooo HAPPY, AH!_  Darren thought with a huge grin on his face. It was true, they really were bursting at the seams to tell them their news.

“Guys… I WE’RE COMING BACK! I quit Glee because I was just sick of the plot. It just didn’t seem like it was going to get anywhere in the foreseeable future so… We’ve talked about this and we would really like it we could, you know, be an inseparable family like we once were. I mean, we have always been a family and always will be but we just felt that it was too much to not be near you guys!” Darren exclaimed with excitement.

“Yeah, it was literally ‘ _You know what would make this better? If everyone else was here!’_ So what do you say…?” Joey asked with his adorable smile that always brought out how cute his jaw was.

They all looked at the two of them, astonished. Completely token by surprise and not one of them said a word. They all looked at them wide-eyed and open mouthed.

“HUDDLE, PEASANTS!” Lauren shouted and as quick as the wind all of them gathered; Dylan, Brian Holden, Joe Walker, Brian Rosenthal, Meredith, Jaime, Denise, Julia, Jeff, Lily and last and certainly the shortest, Lauren.  
“This is some serious shit… MAN I’M GLAD THEY’RE BACK”, she squealed quietly as quietly as she could. There was only one thing left to do…

“Ahem, we have decided that… you can just… STAY FOREVER AND NEVER, EVER, EVER LEAVE AGAIN!” Meredith screamed and everyone was now laughing, crying, jumping, and dancing around the airport.

“Watch out Jaime! There’s a-“, Walker started to tell her but she was too excited to listen to him.

“AHH!”  Jaime screamed as she tripped on some sort of plant and plummeted to the floor. She looked at all of them but Denise’s face just made her crack. Everyone was now in hysterics. The Starkids left the airport and they had arranged a minibus for the journey to and from the airport.

“Alright Starkids! Pick a partner and sit with them.   
They decided;   
Julia & Darren  
Joe & Jaime  
Lauren & Brian  
Dylan& Denise  
Joey & Meredith  
Looks like Brosenthal was the one driving.

“Okay Dikrats, calm down so I can concentrate!” Brian shouted through the bus. Everyone quietened down and started talking to the person sat next them.

Meredith and Joey sat at the back of the bus where it was quieter. Lauren and Brian were next to them, Dylan and Lily were in front of them and in front of Brian and Lauren were Joe and Jaime.  
“Oh, Joey, we’re all so glad you guys are back! We’re all gonna have so much fun,” Meredith beamed a brilliant smile him and she just looked at her. Looked at how the light shone in her chocolate brown hair with the golden highlights that were created but the sunshine. He smiled back and they hugged for longer than it probably should have done. They looked into each other’s eyes and Joey told Meredith, “I’m just glad I’m back with you and the family. It really hasn’t been right not being able to see you guys.”

Brian and Lauren were talking about what they could all have for dinner that day.  
“We could just go out for dinner! It’s not like it’s going to be too much hassle and I really like the breakfast- for- dinner idea,” Brian said.   
“I can make pancakes when we get it! It’s not like I can’t cook!”  
“You can’t cook!” Everyone shouted at her inside of the bus. This startled Brosenthal and he slightly swerved the bus. He made a very obscene gesture to the car beeping at him.

“GUYS, STOP SHOUTING! God, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Brian exclaimed to himself. He just wanted to drive straight home to the Starkid Mansion and relax. However, what Jaime told him earlier, it wasn’t going to be that relaxing.

“Joe Walker, is that what I think it is?! It’s a, it’s a… diary! Ha-ha!” Jaime laughed so much she started crying and was complaining that her stomach was hurting.  
“Yes I’m holding a diary- shit! Journal. It’s a Journal.”   
“Whatever you say Walker.” Jaime looked at him. He was smiling at his ‘journal’. He looked so relaxed and, well, charming. The evening light shone on his journal and he was so squinting to look at his paper.

Lauren was becoming sleepy.   
“Bri, you mind if a have a nap? I’m so tired and I just need a sleep so I’m not tired for the surprise later.” Lauren was putting her head on Brian’s arm (because she couldn’t reach his shoulder)  
“Sure it is Laur-“ Brian couldn’t even finish his sentence without hearing Lauren snoring lightly. He suddenly thought of how cute she looked while she was sleeping (not creepily) but in the sort of loving way, like a brother. Maybe… he’d never thought her other than a little sister…

Brian was pulling up onto the driveway of the mansion. Brian woke Lauren up and everyone came very obvious yet secretive something was going on…

Everyone helped to unload the minibus and they too their bags into the foyer, if you will, of the great building.

“Why the hell is it so dark in here? And why does it smell like -”

“SURPRISE!”


	2. Party Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Starkids throw a surprise party for Darren and Joey, can something go wrong?...

**Chapter 2**

“SURPRISE!”

They walked in to see balloons, ceiling decorations and a HUGE banner which had _WELCOME HOME JOEY & DARREN! _written on it.   
They saw all of the closest or near close Starkids; Chris, Nick & Matt, Nick Strauss, Jeff, Corey, AJ, Jim, Joe Moses, Daniel, and Clark.

Everyone carried Joey and Darren into the living room and all bundled on them. Cramps were forming as they were piling on one another. They were laughing which soon turned into cries of pain from the bodies lying on top of them but also from how they laughed! Tears had formed and they were already rolling down they’re sore cheeks from where they had smiled too much.

“Alright! IT’S TIME TO PAAAAAAAAAAAARTAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” Jeff shouted and he placed his iPod on the speaker and began to play Starkid & Jim and the Povolos.

The songs went in order of their productions; Little White Lie, AVPM, MAMD, AVPS, Starship, HMB, and AVPSY. In that order because that’s where the story began…

“Jaime! Jaime come here,” Walker called her over with a slurred voice. He grabbed her arm teasingly, making her giggle like a little girl. Joe looked into Jaime’s incredibly blue eyes, they glistened like sapphires.  Getting lost in his thoughts, he completely forgot what he was going to say to her.  
“Dance with me Miss Jaime Lyn! Always dance…” Joe asked her as soon as ‘Always Dance’ came on.  
“Alright my Dark Lord! Heehehehehehehe!”

They seemed to dance the night away.

Meanwhile…

Brian glanced over to Lauren to see her sitting by herself with a disturbed look on her face, like she had seen a VERY scary ghost or something. Instinctively, Brian strolled over to her, putting his arm around her.

“Why did Sally drop her ice-cream?” Brian asked her.  
“Why?” She looked up at him with a slightly confused face.  
“Because she got hit by a truck. Knock, knock?”  
“Who’s there?”  
“Not Sally!”  
Lauren sat there laughing her tiny arse of, snorting and everything.  
“Lauren, BREATH!”  
At this point, Lauren was already red, but turning blue at the pretty lame joke Brian had just told her. What has gotten into her?!  
“Oh, Wizard God! Brian, are you trying to kill me or something?! JEEZ!”  
“Oh, no. But I can cheer you up. What was wrong a minute ago?” Brian asked with ease. He looked at her with worry. What was actually wrong with her? She was usually perky and lively at parties.  
“Oh, it’s just had a daydream, and it was really bad, like REALLY bad, Brian. I was so scared!”  
“Oh Lauren! It’s okay! Just forget about anything negative and relax, have fun, and enjoy yourself!”  
Lauren looked at him with promise.  
“Okay, for you Brian.”

They just sat there and listened to the music. They grabbed drinks and food and talked for a while. They talked about how psyched to be working on Twisted later in July.

“NO JOEY, REECES ARE THE BEST!”  
The room went silent as Meredith shouted at Joey (playfully) but no one took it as like she was joking.  
Meredith made a nervous giggle but if looks could kill, it would’ve been Joey’s.

“Meredith, you know how I feel about my Red Vines! Why’d you say that?!”  
She was only joking! Anyone would have thought she killed someone…  
“I- I was only messing with you Joey! I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you! I am so sorry!”  
Joey sighed and sat at her face on with his brown eyes and his crooked, yet sexy, jaw.  
“I know you were Mere! So was I! Jesus, you really thought I was mad at you didn’t ya!”  
Joey started tickling her and everyone went back to their previous conversation, relieved that it was all a joke.  
Meredith could hardly breathe! Grasping for air, she accidently head-butted Joey. Pausing his tickle fight with Meredith, he checked her head to see if she was okay. There was a slight bump on her head, her cheeks were flustered from all of the laughing she was doing, and her eyes were fine. No sign of real damage, thank God.

“Are you alright Mere?” Joey asked her with a LOT of worry on his face.  
“Uh-huh, I’m just suddenly not in a tickling mood. That’s all.  
She looked at him, face to face. It was a good thing no one was looking at them because they had this look in their eyes that was just so… peculiar. That was definitely new between them. They never really looked at each other in that way before.

Just before they went back to their conversation they were having before, Lauren glanced over to where they were sitting and saw how Meredith looked at Joey. _What’s going on?_

“GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!” Darren shouted over all of the party people and turned off the music for a moment.  
“All right! Who wants to play a game?!”  
Everyone was rabbling to themselves, excited for what Darren had in mind for them.  
“Okay, so, I have a list of items that you need to find ALL around the Manor. You need to work in pairs and the first pair to find every single item wins. Oh, and you have to say where you found the item For example; A pair of sunglasses in, I don’t know, Jeff’s room.” Darren motioned to Jeff and everyone looked at Jeff and then at Darren. Looks like everyone knew where one of the items were.  
“I’ll be staying here since there’s an odd number so once you have your answers, come here and give me the sheet of paper with both of your names on the sheet.” Everyone glanced over to Chris who was now the centre of attention.  
“Alright, pick your partners and GO!”

“Hey Lauren, do you have a partner?”  
Lauren turned around to see Brian with a slight smile on his face. He had a mischievous look in his eyes. She had a good feeling about him.  
“Sure thing, Bri! But I gotta warn you, I’m not a particularly good finder.”  
“Oh that’s alright, lucky for you I was sorted into Hufflepuff on Pottermore!”  
Lauren gave him the most confused look ever. Could she really believe her ears?!  
“WOAH, WAIT! You have a POTTERMORE account?!... AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?!”  
Brian looked at her as if she was going absolutely mad.  
“Uh, yeah, I created it ages ago…”  
“Ohh, okay! It’s just that I got sorted into Hufflepuff too! But I’m a terrible finder so I don’t even know how that works out…”  
They both stood there for a second, smiling hopelessly at each other.  
This time, Meredith saw them stared for quite some time. She looked the other way to see Joe and Jaime talking to each other.

“Joe, do you really want to play this?! I mean, I’m all for it but you don’t look very interested in playing these games.”  
Joe turned his head to look at Jaime straight into here crystal blue eyes. God, she was gorgeous. Had anyone told her that before?  
“Huh? Oh yeah, come on then Miss Jaime Lyn! We’re gonna whoop their asses and we’ll watch ‘em weep!”  
Jaime knew something wasn’t quite right with Joe. What was he hiding from her?  
“Are you sure you’re okay?”  
“Jaims, I’m absolutely fine!” Joe said putting his hands on her slender shoulders.  
 _She is so warm, and smooth. JOE! SNAP OUT OF IT! Get your damn hands off of her shoulders and play the game!_ he thought to himself. Doing as he was told by the voice inside of his head, he released his grip her shoulders and instead took her hand and ran for the list of items they were seeking.

“Mere! Were you listening to me?!”  
Meredith looked up to see Joey with a look of disappointment on his face.  
“Oh, Jo-Jo! I’m so sorry! I was just looking over at Jaime and Joe. Is there anything going on between them?”  
Joey looked over at them as well. “Well, it looks like if there isn’t now then there will be. Truuuuuust me. They’ll come around with each other. Oh, want to be my partner for this game?”  
Meredith nodded enthusiastically, “I’ll bet you $10 that Darren has a load of games up his sleeve so we may as well be partners for the whole night. If you want to, that is.”  
“I couldn’t be any happier to be your partner, Mere. We’re gonna beat everyone here because we are just fucking awesome.”  
They too, grabbed a list and searched the manor.  
“First up, uhh…”  
Joey looked at the first item on the list.  
“… Man, it really is sunglasses. Jeff’s room?”  
Meredith had determination in her eyes. She was in it to win it. “Jeff’s room.”

They ran up the stairs and bumped into Lauren and Brian.   
“God guys! You scared us to death!” Brian exclaimed, trying to catch his breath.  
They were all cracking up on the spot when suddenly; Joey saw something poking out of poking out oh Brian’s pocket.  
“Bri, is-is that Jeff’s sunnies?!”  
Brian looked at him as if he had seen a ghost.  
“Lauren, I told you this wouldn’t work!”  
The pair exchanged looks and went to run for the door but Meredith shut it and stood in front of the door with a smug look on her face.   
“We’re cornered Bri!” Lauren squealed and started giggling.  
“There is no laughing in the interrogation room Miss Lopez.” Meredith popped up from the back of the room. She turned off the lights and Joey turned on the bed-side lamp. “Now, we have a proposition for you both.”  
“Return the Sunnies and carry on with the game fairly. OR…” Meredith looked to Joey for some help with the ideas.  
“Or… uh, be our slaves for an entire weekend!” Joey said with excitement in his eyes. Whereas Meredith just face-palmed herself in the thought of Brian and Lauren following them both around.  
Lauren and Brian exchanged glances and decided; “SLAVES!”  
“Joey! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT US INTO?!” They were all laughing at this point.   
“Maaaaaaan are we gonna piss you off!” Lauren teased as she poked Joey in the side.  
“Oh, Miss Stepien, what will you have me do, my royal pain-in-the highness?!”  
Laughing on the bed hysterically, Darren and Julia came in and gave them the most confused look you could ever pull. Seeing them on the bed laughing made them wonder what was going on.  
“Lau-Lauren, p-p-put the glass-s-s-ses baaaack!” Joey tried to tell Lauren between breathing and laughing. So Lauren reached into Brian’s pocket and grabbed the Sunnies. She placed them on the bed-side table.  
Darren turned on the lights and moved towards them with a smile beaming on his gorgeous face.   
“Guys, come one, carry on with the game! The night is young and there are more games to come!”  
“Pay up, Richter!”  
Begrudgingly, Joey pulled out $10 out of his wallet and gave it to Meredith.  
“Alright, now go find other items!” Julia shouted at all of them.

Still laughing, they walked out, playing and pushing each other. But Brian misjudged how light Lauren actually was…

“OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!”

All you could hear was banging coming down the stairs, with multiple steps following the ruckus.

All you could see was Lauren lying on the floor… unconscious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> REVIEW!!! If you have any ideas, inbox me and if i like them, i'll mention you at the start of the chapter with the ideas in :)


	3. Do you think something's going on between them?...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doesn't really touch on Walker/Beatty but will on the next chapter :)

**Just before we start, Luke is a character I made up and these events may or may not have happened. And thank you so much for the views** **J**

 

 

 

Chapter 3

“Uhhhhhhhhhh, n’uuhhhhhhhhhh…”

Lauren, with the help of Jaime and Julia, stumbled to her feet.

“Get her on the couch. Now!”

Brian rushed over to a very sore Lauren. Keeling by her side, he was checking for any sign of serious damage. Just like Joey for Meredith but this time it was an all over body check.

“OUCH!” Lauren screeched as Julia went to touch her arm to comfort her.

With her other arm, Lauren pulled up her sleeve to find her bone a bit more than slightly out of place.  
“Oh fuck, I think I’m gonna puke.” Lauren muttered under her breath. She was NOT happy.

“We need to take her to the hospital, it’s clearly broken!” Darren told everyone around him looking at Lauren who did in fact look like was about to throw up.  
“Thank you very much Captain Obvious!” Julia stressed out at Darren who was now very hurt because he was only trying to help.  
“We, it’s not like I haven’t been called that before but not with so much SASS! Julia, you are acting like Garfield on a Monday.”  
Now it got personal…  
“MISTER DARREN FREAKING CRISS DO NOT PUSH ME RIGHT NOW I AM NOT IN THE FUCKING MOOD!”  
Everyone was silent. No one had ever seen Julia like this before. Not even the last time she got this angry. It was at a party in college…

_It was December and the students were having a First-Week-Of-Winter party…_

_He ran into the bar (where the party was going on in the U of M) and managed to get everyone’s attention, turned down the music and shouted, “HEY! WHERE’S DARREN?! OH, MISTER CRISS, COME OUT YOU CUTE LITTLE BASTARD!” Darren strolled through the crowd, laughing so much that he was crying._  
“Okay. Now Julia! COME AN GET YOUR ASS UP HERE”  
“No, it’s okay, I’ll just stand right here!” Julia knew exactly what he was going to do…  
“GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW UNLESS YOU WANT TO PAY FOR EVERYONE’S DRINK!”  
“Ah, fuck.”  
She walked over and grabbed Luke by the t-shirt and whispered in his ear, “Stop this. Now.”  
Almost falling over his own feet from being to wasted, he whispered back, “I’m going you a favour, now just watch!”  
She released his t-shirt and crossed her arms in defeat knowing exactly where this was going.

_“So, are you guys ready for a little party game?!”  
“Alriiiight!” Darren loved party games so he was psyched to be taking part.  
Julia loved party games too but she did _not _like this game._

_Luke dragged them over to the supply closet and said very quickly, “YouGuysAreGonnaPlay7MinutesInHeavenAndYouAreGonnaLiveHappilyEverAfterOkayGood.”_

_He shoved the two in the closet and locked the door._

_“Hey Juls, wanna smooch?”_  
“Really Darren?”  
“Well,” Darren stepped closer to her, so close she could hardly breath, “I have kinda always admired you, you know. And you’re sooooooo pretty Julia…”

_Man, was he drunk._

_“Darren, you don’t mean tha-“_

_But before Julia could finish, he kissed her. Right on her divine lips._

_This only lasted for about a couple of minutes before Darren straight up puked in her mouth._

_“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”_

_Luke opened the door to find a very sorry Darren and a VERY and angry Julia._

_“MISTER DARREN FREAKING CRISS YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT!” Julia shouted at him yet again and ran away to her dorm, crying._

_She finally reached her dormitory and found Lauren asleep with the TV still on. Lauren wasn’t feeling too well and so she decided to stay in for the night._  
She had a shower and brushed her teeth. She climbed into bed and there was a light knock on the door.  
She opened to find a teary-eyed curly haired freak she knew and, even though she was super angry and him, loved.  
She took a step outside and closed the door quietly behind her, being careful not to disturb her best friend’s sleep.

_“What do you want Darren?”  
He looked her in the eyes and told her, “Look, I am soooooooo sorry. That never meant to happen and I’m an idiot for moving around too much while I’m drunk. But I meant what I said; you really are pretty and you are admirable. Please just forgive me!”_

_How could she not?! Any other boy would just wash his face and get back to the party. But this boy standing in front of her was a gentleman. She couldn’t stay mad for long._

_“Okay, I forgive you! But go back to your room, you’ll wake everyone else up.”_  
“Actually Juls, can I stay with you t’night? I forgot my key and Joe, Joey and Dylan are still at the party so I can’t get in.” Darren shared his dorm with this lot. They were always getting complaints about how loud they were being after everyone had gone to bed after a party. They’d pull an all-nighter if they wanted to.   
Normally, Julia shared a room with Lauren, Meredith, Jaime, and Denise but the majority of them were still at the party. They had managed to rent one of the biggest dorms on campus because they all put their money together to rent it.

_“Fine but you have to be quiet.”_

_Julia led into her room and shut the door. Darren went to lie on the floor when Julia whispered, “You don’t have to do that. Come here.”_   
  


_“Okay.”_

_Julia moved over so that Darren could snuggle in beside her._

_Suddenly she remembered that Darren was wearing the exact same outfit he wore to the party; a grey v-neck t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and his converses (which he wore religiously, it seemed he was married to them or something because no-one actually saw him wear any other shoes! Even when he went to a family friend’s wedding, he wore those damn shoes. His mum told him off but he refused to take them off). But this meant that he still stunk of puke. She didn’t notice it before because she was in a trance of attraction._

_“Wait! Stay there a minute…” Julia ran into the bathroom and filled up a cap of mouthwash to the top and called Darren in. Once he was started on that, she wet a flannel so he could wash his face. She tip-toed back through to the other room and went straight to her clothes dresser.  
She pulled out over-sized jogging bottoms and an extra-large U of M jersey she liked to lounge around in._

_Darren came back into the room for only a split second before being pushed lightly back into the bathroom and being handed some clothes._

_“Get changed into these and leave your clothes in a neat pile in the corner otherwise I might have to kill you.” Julia demanded playfully.  
“Is that a threat or a promise?...” Darren joked.  
They both chuckled and before closing the door to the bathroom, Darren winked at her.  
_If only she knew how I felt about her, _he thought.  
_ If only he knew how I felt about him, _she thought._

_In the time she awaited Darren’s arrival from the bathroom; she grabbed glasses of water for both her and Darren to drink, and sat back down on her comfy bed. Since it was winter, she had blankets galore and every single one of them were thick and fluffy. She hated being cold during the night._

_Darren came back in to the room and placed his icky clothes in the corner Julia had just motioned him to. She handed him the other glass of water and retrieved some Febreze Anti-Oder spray and squirted what seemed like half a can of the stuff before she was satisfied that she couldn’t smell anything rotten coming from the clothes._

_She took the empty glasses and put them on the counter. Once she was ready, she came back and sat next to Darren._

_He got up, took her hands, pulled her in close, and simply hugged her._  
“Thank you.”  
They were both glad it was pitch black so the other couldn’t see how glistening their smiles were.

_He released her and climbed into her bed. Arms open for her to snuggle in to; she followed him in and pulled the covers over both of them.  
Darren placed one of his arms folded underneath his head, and one wrapped round Julia’s perfectly slim waist._

This is how it should be, _he thought._

_Julia turned her whole body around to face Darren. They both just laid there for a while, knowing neither of them were going to disturb the moment anytime soon._

_However, they were both startled when at the same time they whispered, “I love you.”_

_Their hearts were now rapidly beating faster, completely out of sync with one another.  
It didn’t take long for them to settle down and beat as one like they were before._

_Suddenly Darren leaned into kiss Julia on the forehead but misjudged where her head actually was and ended up kissing the air.  
“Smooth, real smooth!” Julia giggled aloud._

_With the arm Darren had wrapped around her waist with, he slid his hand up her soft arm and found her chin. He notched her head up slightly and kissed her passionately smack-bang on the lips_  
“How smooth was that for you, Miss Albain?”  
“As smooth as, uh… peanut butter!” Julia exclaimed foolishly, seeing as she was still a little drunk from the party.  
Now, they were both snickering amongst themselves.

_One Darren had caught his breath, he slid his arm back down to her waist and let out, “Look, I know that you should never tell a girl you like her because it makes you look like an idiot but Juls, I love you. You make me a better person and I am so happy when I’m around you! I want to be by your side all of the time and you just brighten up my world. So Julia, will you go out with me?”_

_Without hesitation, Julia replied, “Yes.”_

_After hours of silence, both of them fell asleep into an adorable dream…_

_The next morning, Lauren woke up to pee because she had a bladder of a squirrel. It wasn’t long before she noticed there were two people in Julia’s bed. She could see Julia alright but all she could see of the other was the curly hair…_

_Lauren creeped over to it find the mystery boy was Darren.  
“N’aww.” _

_Lauren had known Julia had liked Darren for some time now and she was just glad they were finally together.  
She walked past them to find a pile of clothes neatly folded in the corner. _Had they have sex while I was asleep?!, _she thought suddenly…_

_“What the FUCK?!”_

 

“Sorry, Darren. I’m just worried for Lauren. I shouldn’t have snapped.”  
Darren cupped her face and kissed her lightly on the forehead, signalling the air had been cleared.

“I shouldn’t have pushed your buttons.”

“OKAY! Enough lovey-dovey shit and get me to the hospital!” Lauren screamed at both of them, frustrated that they had been sitting here for a couple of minutes now and no action had taken had been taken place.

“Darren, Brian, and I will take Lauren to the hospital. I think we’re all done with the games tonight so I’d appreciate it if you guys tidied up while we were gone. I’ll text Jaims and Mere with any news we have on her arm. Do I make myself clear of the plan?” Julia ordered to the rest of the party. She loved acting like the mother of the group; not to be bossy but to know everything was in order.

Brian scooped the tiny Lauren into his sausage arms and carried her to Julia’s car.   
Once they were all strapped in, they went straight into the emergency part of the hospital, no fun and games.

They checked in and sat in the waiting room while Julia filled in the required information the receptionist needed. When they were done, the receptionist let Lauren into the kid’s waiting room because Lauren refused to go anywhere else.  
Once in the waiting room, Julia and Darren sat down while Lauren and Brian played with the toy kitchen. Lauren put on her good old British accent and asked Brian, “Would you like a spot of tea old chap?”  
“Oh yes please m’lady!” Brian responded.  
With their pinkies high and their back straight, they pretended to drink a piping hot cup of tea.

“Miss Lauren Lopez?” Lauren looked up to find a female doctor calling her name so she could be examined.   
Lauren stood up with Brian’s help and walked over to the doctor. She led them into the examination room and they sat down on the visitor’s chairs. The doctor sat down in her comfy, spinny chair and sat down at her desk.

“Hi Lauren, my name is Doctor Everdeen an-“  
“OMG LIKE IN THE BOOKS?!” Lauren shot up in excitement.  
“If you wish. Anyway, I understand that you fell down a set of stairs and this is how you broke your arm. I need to check; are you diabetic?”  
“No.”  
“Any allergies?”  
“Gluten.”  
“Okay, I’m going to give you some medicine and once you’ve taken it, we’ll take you to the X-Ray ward.”

_Why are they taking so long?,_ Meredith thought to herself. She was the only one still up after the tidying up and she was really worried. The four of them had left the house at around midnight and now it was half three in the morning?! Something must be bad. What if she had to have an operation on her arm?!  
 _Don’t be stupid Meredith! It wasn’t as bad as that, so stop worrying!_  the tiny voice in her mind reminded her. Maybe if she stopped worrying, she could get to sleep.  
She strolled over to the kitchen and popped the kettle on. Coffee was soooo needed right now.

“Can’t sleep either?”  
She stifled a scream and turned around to see Joey in his pyjamas, slippers and dressing gown. He had bed hair but he also had big bags under his eyes. It was obvious he hadn’t slept.

“Jesus Christ, Joey! You can’t sneak up on a girl in the middle of the night when she thinks she’s the only one up because she could easily kill a person being so stupidly paranoid!”

Finally taking a breather after lecturing Joey, she turned around, put her hands on the table, and bowed her head in stress.  
Joey came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck and just hugged her for a while.

“Sit down, I’ll make it.”

Obeying orders, she went into the living room and sat on the couch. She tucked her legs up and looked at her phone. It was now four in the bloody morning. She started to cry.

Joey finally came over with two cups of hot drinks and sat on the other end of the sofa. It was a three-seater sofa so there was plenty of room for them to spread out on. He handed her the cup when he realised she was sniffling.

“Mere, are you okay?”  
She looked up and him and took the cup from his hands.  
“Yeah, I’m just worried, that’s all.”   
She took a sip of her drink and she realised it was tea.  
“I wanted coffee…” Meredith said jokingly to Joey, being very grateful of the tea he made her. Joey always made awesome cups of tea.  
“Well, make your own next time!”  
“I was going to! But someone didn’t let me!”  
“Oh, by the way, it’s decaf so if you did decide you wanted to sleep; you won’t have as much trouble as you would have if you head normal tea. You. Are. Welcome.”

He was always so thoughtful of others. He didn’t expect anything in return which is what made people take advantage of him, sometimes. Meredith would never do that because she actually cared too. She didn’t expect anything in return either but she would never let people take advantage of her.

“Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a while, getting sleepier by the second.

Brian and the gang finally arrived home and quietly entered the manor.

They all stepped into the living room to find Joey and Meredith sleeping, with their heads together. How they got there was a mystery.

It was half five in the morning so anyone would have guessed they were waiting up for their arrival.

“Do you think something’s going on between them?” Brian piped up.  
“Well, if there isn’t anything between them now, I’m sure there will be.” replied Darren…


	4. What A Relief - Part 1

**This will be in three parts - This is for @LizzieKStarkid <3 love you**

**And there are references to other films in there** **J**

Chapter 4 – What A Relief… Part 1

It was 7am in Chicago and the light from the sun rising was burning brightly through the window. It looked like Brian was getting up early. He never really got up before 9ish because he never liked getting up too early. But he could hardly sleep because of all of the stress earlier this morning or late last night (depending on how you put it).

He sort of rolled out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen, still sleepy from the 2 hours of sleep he had. They arrived in the Manor at around 5ish because it was a Saturday night, the A&E was super busy and packed with drunk people with all sorts of injuries; broken bones, cracked open heads, glass in their bodies… It looked like they were all in a fight, a real fight.

Brian walked over to the island counter in the kitchen and brewed some coffee. Milky with two sugars; just how he liked it. It was the only thing keeping him awake at stupid-o’clock in the morning.

He could hear faint footsteps coming from the hallway upstairs.  
 _One of the girls are up, better make coffee…_ he thought.

He grabbed another cup from the cupboard and poured some coffee into it.   
As soon as he was finished pouring the bleak, steamy goodness into the mug, Lauren walked in. And she looked like a freaking zombie.  
Brian put in a little bit of milk and three sugars. He knew how Lauren liked her coffee because he had to run and get her four to-go coffees at Costa and come back. Four times he made her do that. FOUR.

He started stirring the sugar into the caffeine-in-a-cup when he turned around to see Lauren just standing there, holding her phone in her right hand and her back turned to Brian. Her head was bowed but that was probably because she was just so tired. She was the one with the rough night.

“Here.”   
He handed her the mug. She put her phone down on the breakfast bar and took the mug, her head still bowed. She sat down on the bar stool and sipped her coffee.  
Brian joined her and they both sat there in an enjoyable silence, neither of them wanted to spoil the quietness. But something wasn’t quite right about this… about Lauren being _this_  quiet…  
“Are you okay?”  
Nothing. She didn’t speak to him. Brian didn’t know how to deal with this. Was she mad at him? Was she just being quiet? Was she upset about her arm? It was killing him not knowing how she was feeling.  
All Lauren did was lean her head on his arm and sip her coffee.   
_This is nice, just me and Bri. He can never know…_ she thought.

After both of them finishing their coffees, Lauren went to stand up but lost her balance slightly, and fell off the chair. She shot back up, not saying a word, Brian trying not to laugh, and she took his cup as well as her own.  She swaggered over to the sink and washed up the glasses in the sink. She used her favourite Apple-flavoured washing-up liquid.   
She dried her eyes, turned around and said, “Good morning Brian.”

Brian didn’t know what was wrong with her before but she was okay now.  
 _God, she’s so cute in the morning. Her hair is all messy and natural… Natural beauty is the key. She can never know…_ he thought.   
“Good morning beautiful.” Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Had he really just said that?!  
“Beautiful, eh? Wow,” Lauren said as she tied her rich brown hair into a ponytail, making sure her hair was out of her face.  “You’re not too bad yourself, Bri.”

Lauren left the kitchen with a smile on her face, happy with the completely innocent compliment Brian gave her. She climbed the stairs to the bathroom, brushed her teeth, washed her face and had a short shower, being sure not to damage the temporary cast.   
She came out of the shower, and looked in the mirror.   
Her hair was drenched and her body was now smooth from where she waxed.   
She was towel drying herself when there someone came in the bathroom.  
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”  
“OhmygodIamsosorry!” Brian freaked out realising the bathroom was occupied. “Don’t you lock the door?!”, shutting the door again.  
Lauren rolled her eyes and replied, “I was just getting out actually!...” She grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself what seemed like ten times because she was so petite and small in both height and weight.  She slightly opened the door, making it ajar peeping around to see Brian leaning against the wall, arms folded, and cheeks glowed brighter than a maraschino cherry.

“I am so sorry, Lauren. I didn’t mean to barge in on you like tha-“  
“Brian, it’s okay. It wasn’t intentional. Or was it?...”  
Brian’s mouth was now gaped wide open trying to explain that him walking in on her was an accident.  
Lauren started giggling and said, “I’m only messing with you, Bri! Calm yo shizz!”  
That was definitely a new saying…  But oh well.  
She gave him a quick smile, looked at the ground and met his eyes one last time.   
_He has to know…_ she thought.  
Lauren turned and walked up the stairs to her room, which she shared with Julia, Jaime, and Meredith… Just like in University. They’re inseparable.

She got changed into leggings, a long top and extremely fluffy socks. Perfect for sliding around in! But she had a slightly out-of-place arm so there wasn’t going to be much sliding.

Brian walked into the bathroom, still shocked from walking in on Lauren in the bathroom _naked.  
Hehehehehehhehe, I saw her naked, _Brian thought to himself. On the outside, he may be the calm, in-control person of the group but on the inside, he was still that 15 year old, teenage boy, just like the rest of them. Even Darren was still like it! Joey was the worst though. He is a teenage boy trapped inside a adorable, sexy, grown man’s body with jobs, taxes, and responsibilities.

Brian was freshening up for today too, getting ready for the day ahead.   
He needed to make it up to her. But how? He accidently nudged her down the stairs, and walking in on her while she was in the bathroom, nude.

_Maybe take her on a day out…_ Brian thought. But where? And what would they do?

“HEY, LAUREN?” Brian shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

She came down with half of her make-up done. _She doesn’t need make-up, she’s perfect as she is._  

“You rang, Brian?”  
“Oh yeah, uh, I was wondering if there was any way I could make it up to you. For you know, damaging your arm and our little encounter a second ago…”  
“Sure, what did you have in mind?” Lauren asked, curious on what Brian would come up with.  
“Well, the fair is on…”  
Lauren had to think about this. Every year, ALL of them went to the fair. And it was a BIG fair. Loads of rides, there was even a roller coaster with the Olympic rings as loops! She didn’t want to go without them, it was like a tradition.  
“As long as we all go, I’ll go.”  
“Okay! But seeing as it’s only ten o’clock, we’ll be waiting a while. The fair doesn’t start until this evening so at one, shall I order lunch? It’s on me.”  
Brian was always so sweet and when he had done something wrong, he’d make sure that he’d make it up to that person.


	5. What a relief part 2

What A Relief – Part 2  
Sorry I haven’t updated yet, I was away for 2 weeks :/ And I have a LOT of biology, physics, and chemistry coursework AND exam stress so I’ll be planning on updating every Sunday :D or Saturday if I’m lucky to finish it then :P  
The following events probably didn’t happen…  
“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! GET UP NOOOOOOOOW!”  
Lauren was super excited to go to the fair, and she was especially excited because it was getting warmer so she could wear her favourite sparkly shorts and her favourite lion top. This was a chance that she couldn’t mess up, a chance to finally see how he will react. How he will react to her expressing to him. It wouldn’t be the first time she’s been in that situation. It happened with Walker but he was too drunk to notice she was actually talking to the guy.  
Meredith sat up gave Lauren the death stare.   
“A wild Lauren has appeared. Pillow; I CHOOSE YOU!”  
Meredith threw a pillow at Lauren’s face and sent her stumbling backwards gently, making her walk into the wardrobe.   
“Really, Mere? A Pokemon reference?!” Lauren, shocked at what Meredith actually just said, threw the pillow back at the awakened zombie.   
Jaime, only just waking up, she was wondering why she was getting up at 8am in the morning.  
“Uh, why are we getting up a stupid o’clock anyway, Lauren?”  
“BECAUSE THE FAIR IS IN TOWN!”   
A groan came from the east side of the room because now Denise was up and she had registered what was going on.  
“Oh, don’t be spoil-sports!”  
“Ohmygod Lauren, did you really just say that?!” Denise was climbing out of bed and going down the stairs to go to the bathroom. She went down the hallway and turned to descend the stairs when Jeff came sprinting up the flight.  
Denise paused to listen for anymore footsteps that could be coming up the stairs when Julia bumped into her. I didn’t see her in the girl’s bedroom last night…  
Denise gave her the “Ohh I know what you were up to last night!” and Julia gave her the “You better keep your mouth shut if you want to live” look.  
Knowing where she stands in this situation, they both stepped out of the way for each other. She finally reached the bathroom and had a shower and brushed her teeth.  
“Bro, are you gonna ask her tonight?” Darren teased Brian, knowing he was going to score Lauren tonight.  
“Oh, I uh, have-uh no idea what you’re talking about.” Brian, trying to play it cool, “Who are you talking about?...”  
“Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, come oooooooooon! It’s us your talking to! It’s not like we’re going to beat the shit outta you for liking Lauren!” Joey teased him and prodding him at the same time.   
The guys started to laugh and bundle on top of Brian. It wasn’t long before they started to get back up because any longer, they would have broken poor Brian. And they didn’t want that to happen, especially for his special date tonight.  
“Oh, shut up guys!” Brian didn’t like being picked on. He was one of the smallest of the dudes and he always felt intimidated. Wait a minute… “Yo, Joey! What about you and Meredith, huh?! HAHA!”  
Everyone was now staring at Joey. And he was speechless.   
Oh God… He thought.  
“That is none of your guy’s business. And besides, why do you care? Wait, how do you know?!”  
Joey was now questioning everybody this, but they all just gave almost the same answer as each other. “It’s obvious, Joey! It’s hard not to see you making googly eyes at Meredith whenever you talk to her. Oh, and you won’t stop looking, no, staring at her! You gotta kick it up a notch if you want her to be your girl. You have to ask her out tonight, you’re not going to die if she says no…” Dylan lectured Joey.   
“You know what, FINE!”  
__________________________________________________________________________________  
Shouting came from the boys’ room and the ladies of the house wondered what was going on…  
“Why does it take guys 5 billion hours to get ready?! I mean, girls are supposed to take forever but these guys are just taking the piss!” Lauren was getting agitated. All she wanted to do was get out of the damn manor!  
“We’ll give them 15 minutes. In that time, we can all enjoy some Twining’s detoxifying lemon tea and relax.” Meredith loved green tea. It was her favourite hot drink.  
“Mere, no offence, but no one likes that shit but you.” Denise jokingly sprung up to the offer. “But I will have a Mocha…”  
Everyone was now requesting drinks to Meredith but she was only going to make green tea…  
“Nope! You can make your own damn coffees while I drink my tea!”  
Just as she poured water into the kettle, the boys came down the stairs, finally ready to go.  
“About time! What has taken you so long?!” Julia, hand on her hip, questioned the boys.  
With a blunt look on all of their faces, they all just walked out of the door and came to a stop once everyone was outside.  
“So, are we taking the car or are we walking?”  
Seconds after Dylan had asked the question, the group murmured and decided the best way to travel is to walk. There is nothing worse than trying to park when you are going to a fair; there are literally no spaces to park in unless you want to park your car near the event 48 hours before. It was 3 hours before the fair now; there was no way of getting a parking space now. Plus, there was nothing like walking with your friends to a fair.   
Meredith remembers when she was in High School and the German Exchange people came over to the US and they went to the fair when it was on. They all walked their and it took them about an hour. But they didn’t care because it was so fun and they played silly games like “Replace the Movie Name with ‘Penis’” and they played tag and just had a load of fun before they even got to the fair!   
“O.M.G! I cannot wait to be at the fair and go on the Waltzer and the Twister and THE HAUNTED HOUSE!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! Boop!” Lauren was now way too excited for the fair. It actually killed her a bit because it was three hours until the fair and they were going to make a day out of this whole fair.   
“I suggest that we go bowling.” Joey piped up with the question, knowing that Meredith loved bowling.   
“Okay, I think we’re all up for it. It’ll be good to occupy ourselves for a few hours.” Brian responded, helping a brother out was the right thing to do. Plus, he knew Lauren loved bowling too.  
Making their way to the bowling alley didn’t take as long as they thought it would. They were lucky it was a week day so no one was really out and about to have booked a lane. They exchanged their shoes and whatnot and set up at lane one and two. They loved bowling on the edge of the lanes. They split into two teams (one for each lane) and decided to play boys against girls, just like always.  
“Yo goin’ DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN bitchez!” Walker exclaimed in a, ehem, ‘Gangster’, like way.   
“Oh dear Lord”, Julia gave Walker an eye-rolling sassy look and bowled first. The teams were;  
Julia, Lauren, Meredith, Jaime and Denise.  
And Darren, Brian, Joey, Walker, and Dylan.  
In that order they bowled. Dylan pulled Denise away from the group for a minute. He also wanted to talk to her about something…  
“Hey Denise, uh, I was just, uh, jeez. Um, I was wondering if you would go through the Haunted House with me.” Dylan, was never good at chatting up the ladies, but strangely enough, he would happily give advice to others if they needed it.  
“Sure, Dylan! I would love that!” Denise was excited for this. She liked Dylan. A lot. And it would be amazing if she could just get close enough to him…  
They returned to their lane to find it was their turn. Both bowling at the same time, Denise got a strike and Dylan knocked down 9 pins, so close to being the same, Dylan thought. He gave her a silly look in jealousy and bowled again, completely missing the last pin. Everyone laughed at his epic fail in bowling and carried on with their game.   
Each team won a game each and they left the bowling place. They still had an hour to kill so they decided to get a late lunch. By this time it was 3pm and they were all so hungry.  
“Shall we go to the café down the road? We can have both coffee and a cake for the price of $2 which is so much cheaper than Starbucks.” Brian suggested to the gang.   
“And they sell green tea!” Meredith was happy about going to the café now. Not getting her green tea this morning made her a little upset. She needed her Pineapple and Grapefruit Twinings Green Tea in the morning.  
They all made their way to the café down the road and grabbed a slice cake each ordered their drinks; 4 coffees, 3 teas, and 1 green tea. It all came to about 10$ for the whole thing. They spent about half an hour talking about what superhero was the best.   
“Spiderman!”  
“Superman!”  
“Iron Man!”  
“Batman!”  
“Hulk!”  
“Wonder Woman!”  
“Black Widow!”  
“WAIT! Are we naming our favourites or are we just naming the JLA and The Avengers?! C’MON! BE real here… We all know DC is the best! Marvel just stole all of DC’s ideas! They’re not really original and they’re not superheroes! They’re science experiments or Gods or trainers!” Now Jaime was going to be murdered. At least, from Darren and Joey. Everyone knows that Spiderman was their favourite superhero.  
“Actually, I have to agree with her. DC is better as a whole.” The group just stared at Joey in astonishment. Did he really just say that?!  
“Wow, dude. Are you betraying you’re roots?!” Darren asked him with his big brown puppy eyes.   
“Chill, man! Spiderman is still my favourite hero! I just think DC is better.”  
A debate went around their table and they all decided, even Darren that DC was in fact better that Marvel.   
“Fine, but Toby McGuire is beautiful. I am just stating facts here.” Darren said sulkily, like a little child getting only half of his or her own way.   
They finished they’re drinks and paid the bill.  
They left the cosy old café and started to walk down the street. Laughing, playing, and skipping.   
Nothing could stop their high spirits when they were only minutes away from the fair.   
Oh wait, there was.   
They could here gunshots. And they sounded pretty close…

Okay, so I’m sorry for not updating in forever and I will try and get the next one up asap! Remember this is all fiction 


	6. What a relief part 3 - Or is it?

JUST BEFORE YOU START READING – I am so sorry that I haven’t updated since last month :/ I have had exams and I still have more to come but I have a half-term holiday so I’m going to try and update as much as I can. And again, I’m so sorry <3

What a Relief part 3  
Instinctively, the group started to panic.   
In a harsh whisper, Julia said, “GUYS SHUT THE FUCK UP. IT’S OBVIOUSLY CLOSE SO THE KILLER CAN PROBABLY HEAR US. LET’S JUST SILENTLY RUN TO THE FAIR AND ALARM THE POLICE.”  
They looked behind them to see if anyone was behind them and all they could hear is the stifled sobs coming from the girls and a calming noises coming from the boys.  
“OI! WHO GOES THERE?!” A very Cockney-English voice came from the alley-way.   
“Crap… just run!” Julia instructed. They were lucky that they were only around the corner. They ran and ran. Only 10 seconds from the fair. Faster and faster, they escape the gunner, only just though.  
“Let’s split up. The killer probably knows what we look like or at least what we were wearing so it would be easier if we were scattered. Keep your phones on a high volume so we can keep each other updated. I’ll phone the police now.”   
Even though she was freaking out as much as the others on the inside, Julia seemed totally calm and collected. This is what everyone needed.  
They broke up in pairs, the usual pairs if you know what I mean.  
Joey and Meredith ran to the carousel.  
Brian and Lauren ran to the Waltzer.  
Darren and Julia ran to the Twister.  
Jaime and Joe ran to the Haunted house.  
And Dylan phoned Lily to see if she wanted to come to the fair. He waited by the food stand. Everyone approved.  
“Hey, Brian?” Lauren felt so traumatised. She could have been shot. Any of them could have. Brian immediately took her in his arms with no hesitation and she just cried. Brian hated seeing her like this; all shaky with fear and trembling with worry. What should I do?! But as soon as he asked himself that pretty stupid question, he knew what to do.   
On minute Lauren was bawling her eyes out. The next, she was being passionately kissed to calm her down. Neither on backing away, both minds racing but their hearts beat faster. They’re in control, commanders and masters. They need to be in control if they are going to take this monster down. 

“You okay, Jaime?” Joe asked, genuinely concerned. Jaime had a disturbing look on her face. This was never a good look.  
“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Just worried. I’m hoping the police are on their way.”   
“Oh. You want to talk?”   
“Nope.”  
“Right.”  
That was the end of their conversation for a long time. Joe felt like he should do something but didn’t want to disturb her. She looked like she was thinking. But what? What was going through that clever little head of hers?  
“C’mon, let’s go and get some coffee. It’s on me.” Joe just wanted Jaime to talk. Was that so hard?  
“Alright. But I want a Costa. Not Starbucks. I love they’re Iced Vanilla Lattes. Is that okay?”  
“Sure”, Joe said, pleased he could finally through to her, “It’s closer anyway.”  
They left their station and walked past the Wall Ride, the hot dog stand, and the Tea Cups. Coffee sounded really good right now.  
“So; horse or carriage milady?” Joey asked Meredith in a Prince Charming manor. Bowing down to her, he grabbed her hand and kissed it gently.   
“Uhhh, horse! Dibs on the orange one!”  
“Fine! Dibs on the blue one! So, uh, what are you doing tomorrow?” It’s worth a shot, Joey thought. This was his chance. This romantic scene, laughing, playing together. How can she refuse a date now? This is the golden time…  
“Nothin’. Why? What do you have in mind Mister Joseph Michael Richter?” Meredith said with a smirk on her face. She loved his full name, it was so funny when he reacted to it.  
“Man, I haven’t heard that since the last time my mom told me off! Which was years ago, come to think of it. Anyway, maybe we could go… Bowling?” Bowling. Yeah, she loves bowling. Well, I do, at least.  
“Sure! I love bowling! Can we go for a Subway after?” Is this pushing it? Meredith thought. She didn’t want to blow this chance. At all.   
“O.M.G! Yes! I’m gonna get a Spicy Italian on Italian toasted with melted cheese and lettuce!”  
“Are you serious?...” Meredith couldn’t believe what she had just heard…  
“Yeah, why?”  
“That’s… exactly what I was going to get! How is this possible! I don’t know anyone who has that exact order.” This is too good to be true, Meredith wanted to squeal with excitement, but it was a bit pointless if you’re only going to squeal over the fact that they have the same as you. However, if your potential boyfriend likes the same sub as you, it’s worthy of a slight squeal from one young Meredith.  
“Wow! Me either. Maybe it was… meant to be?” Joey you lame-ass fuck, really? You really just said that to her?! Joey mentally face-palmed himself.  
“Haha! Meant to be? Over a sandwich? Well, if the boot fits!”

“Hey can you come to the fair tonight?  
Oh you’re busy?  
Right.   
Uh huh.  
Hm.  
Okay.  
Well, see you whenever.  
Bye.”  
Dylan hung up the phone, a little more than disappointed. He’s always left on his own. He never has anyone. That’s a lie. I shouldn’t have thought that. That’s unfair. It’s not his fault that everyone so-happens to be in love with each other and he has no one. Not now, at least. This is his prime time; he doesn’t want to be tied down to anyone at the moment. Not now. Maybe not ever. He just needs a true bro. For now.

“Hey, Juls.”  
“What.”   
“Woah, I know you’re stressed. Everyone is. But you don’t have to be bitchy.” Ouch, I’m so gonna pay for it in three, two, one…  
“Excuse ME?! I’m sorry for caring about the lives of others. Did you call the police?”  
“Yeah”, Darren said, “They’ll be here shortly.”  
Awkward silence filled the line because of Julia’s big mouth, blurting out how she needs to save the lives of random people. Being judged is the last thing she needed.  
After 10 minutes of cueing, they finally made it onto the Twister.   
Spinning, turning, twisting; churning. Shit. I think I’m gonna blow chunk. Even in my head that sounds lame.   
“Honey, as soon as we get off of this ride, I’m gonna head straight for the Port-a-Loos. I don’t feel so good. My stomach feels like it’s going to explode.” Julia has had just about enough of this fair shit. And this killer shit. In fact, she was so done with everything.   
“Oh, sure. Want me to come with you?” Darren, concerned about the only girl he had ever really, truly loved, was now feeling like a complete arse of himself.  
“If you want but it’s, bluegh, not gonna be, hm-, pretty.” Julia exclaimed, heaving at every twist and turn there was.  
“That doesn’t matter. I’m not going to leave you like this.” Darren said, going to kiss his beautiful girlfriend but decided to cradle her until this ride was over. “Funny, you don’t ever get sick over these rides. I remember all of us going to Port Aventura, remember? In Salou and we went on Dragon Kahn five times in a row! I was the one throwing up and you taking care of me! Haha – good times…”  
“CAN WE NOT TALK ABOUT PUKE, PLEASE.”   
“Oh shit yeah, yeah. Sorry, baby.”  
Baby? No. No, no, no, no, no,… NO.  
The ride stopped. Julia darted for the toilets and puked. Darren arrived shortly after Julia first heaved and blew.  
“Shhh, sh sh shhh, it’s okay. It’s okay… Don’t cry, baby. Don’t…”  
“Don’t say that! Just don’t! Stop…” Screaming through her tears, Julia decided to try and find Meredith, seeing as Jaime was at Costa and Lauren was somewhere canoodling. Probably in the bushes… they’re both small enough to- JULIA NO!   
“Juls! Wait, where are you going?! STOP!”  
Julia stood there with her back turned to Darren. Tears streaming down her face.  
“Julia. You need to talk to me. You need to liste-“  
“No! Not right now. I- I need Meredith. I need to talk to her and you need to let me see her otherwise this I am going to fuck things up like I have in the past and I don’t want to do that. I love you with all of my heart but I need to talk to Meredith! Please, j-j-j-just undert-t-tand…”   
“Hey, hey, hey. Of course I understand. Come here. I am sorry that I ever made you like this, baby.”  
“Stop calling me that! Just STOP!”  
Breaking Darren’s grasp around her, Julia dashed through the crazed crowd of young lovers, old lovers and families alike. At the corner of her eye, Julia spotted Joey by his crooked grin and a little lower, Meredith with her flawless curly hair. Oh shit, I don’t want to ruin their ‘alone’ time together… Everyone knows how much Joey likes her. Well, this ‘date’ is going to have to wait.  
She ran over to the two lovebirds.  
“Hey Mere!”  
One look at Julia was all it took to know something was wrong.  
“Joey,” Meredith turned to him, “To be continued?”  
“Sure, ‘this’ can wait.” Joey knew that whatever was going on with Julia was serious. He wasn’t going to think twice about letting their friendship come first. Chicks before hicks, right?  
“Thank you!”  
Mere and Juls paced a few before Meredith turned around, ran back to Joey and full-on kissed him. “I gotta go.”  
“I know. Go, now!” They kissed one last time before Meredith ran back to Julia and hugged her.   
“Alright. What’s up?”   
“Can we go home? I cannot tell you here.”  
Meredith thought long about this. “Can’t it wai-“  
“No it cannot fucking wait because- IT CANNOT WAIT!”  
“Okay, okay! Let’s go. I’m just gonna text people that we’re going home.”  
Recipients; Lauren, Jaime, Joey, Darren, Dylan, Brian, Joe Walker.  
MereBear; Hey guys, Juls and I are going home so make sure you guys get in safe. Love y’all x  
“Okay, let’s go.”   
They walked out of the fair exit by quite a bit when Mere got a text.

Recipients; Lauren, Jaime, Joey, Darren, Dylan, Brian, Joe Walker.  
MereBear; Hey guys, Juls and I are going home so make sure you guys get in safe. Love y’all x  
JoeyJoe; Can you meet me at the Tea-Cups? I wanna walk you guys home. To make sure you guys get home safe.  
MereBear; Okay, see you in a sec.  
“Hold on, I’m going to get Joey. I think It’ll be safer with him with us. We can talk over a coffee when we get home. Okay?”  
“Sure. I’ll wait in the café across the street so I don’t get mugged or something.”  
“See you in a minute.”  
Meredith walked with her hands in her pocket to the entrance of the fair. It’s going to take at least 5 minutes to get to the fair. I’ll text Joey to say I’m going to be late.   
“Get yo sweet ass over here!”  
“Get off of me!”  
Pushing this animal of what people call the male species, Meredith practically started speed walking past the bench on which sat the animal of a man.   
“Hey! Get back here sweet-cheeks!”  
“Just leave me alone!”  
By this point, she was sprinting away. Knowing the drunken-bum wouldn’t be able to even stand up, she slowed down back to a walk.   
Arriving at the fair, she saw Joey by the tea-cups as promised.  
“Hey, Jo-“

 

One shot. Two shots in the night and she’s down, and she didn’t make a sound.   
He’s just, one boy, one hurt on the ground, and her blood stains the street.  
And there’s nothing. No there’s nothing he can do.  
“SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE AND THE FUCKING POLICE! NOOOOOOOOOOW!”


	7. Just Stay

Chapter 7 – Just stay  
“MEREDITH!”  
Joey pushed through the crowd that only seemed to be standing around her.   
Isn’t there someone who can help instead of just standing there?! Fucking hell, this is not what I need right now.  
As if reading his mind, someone shouted out, “SOMEONE HELP HER!”  
“Oh Meredith…”  
“Joey, I’m so sorry, I-“  
“No,” Joey interrupted Meredith, seething through his teeth, “ Don’t ever apologise for someone else’s mistakes. Ever.”  
Joey could hear sirens approaching and the crowd made way for the paramedics with a gurney.  
“Okay, do you know what your name is?”  
“Meredith Stepien. I am 27 and I am in Chicago at the town fair. I have been shot and I am not passed out. PLEASE GET ME TO THE DAMN HOSPITAL BEFORE I BLEED TO DEATH. Joey?”  
Joey, dazed in shock quickly snapped out of the trance of fear, tears rolling and crashing to the ground like a tidal wave crashing against the beach cliffs.   
“Yeah?” He stifled another cry as he answered Meredith. It was unbearable to see the pain in the deepest parts of her rich, brown eyes.  
“Will you come with me? To the hospital?”   
There was only one obvious answer; Joey replied, “Yes, of course!”  
Screams escaping from her mouth, Meredith was lifted and flattened onto the gurney patiently waiting for her. She was lifted into the ambulance and the doors closed.  
Am I not allowed in there with her? She asked me to go in there with her! Surely, I have to be allowed in…  
Anxious moments passed. The ambulance still hadn’t driven away.   
Another scream. And another.   
What the hell is going on in there?! What are they doing to her! God, I need to be in there with her!   
“Joey, is it? Hi, I’m Doctor Thornton. Miss Stepien requires your assistance in the ambulance now. Just to warn you; Miss Stepien has been put to sleep until we get her to the hospital. She is fine for now.”  
Like a bullet, Joey practically jumped into the ambulance. He sat next to her and just looked at her.  
One of her hands was lying on her chest and one by her side. She looked so peaceful, so calm (besides the redness of her face when she was crying and screaming).  
Joey put his headphones in, held the hand that was on her chest and started listening to ‘Sidekick’ from A Very Potter Senior Year.

It’s not fair, it’s not fair,  
I didn’t know I wasn’t there.  
It’s not fair; it’s not fair,  
seeing you lying there.  
And it was that line that made him melt. He put his head to her chest, still holding onto her hand, and not wanting to move, he held her like it was the last day he’ll ever see her again…

 

Brian and Lauren were walking around the fair, trying to find everyone. They saw Dylan. He looked really upset.   
Dylan looked up to find Brian and Lauren walking towards him. He strode over to them with even more worry on his face.  
“Have you guys seen or heard from the others? Meredith’s phone isn’t on, Joey isn’t picking up. Joe and Jaime went to Costa! Have you seen anyone?” Dylan was so close to crying. It really was like he was alone. This isn’t the time to have a fucking panic attack, Dylan! Get it together, man, he mentally noted.  
“I saw Julia and Meredith walk out of the fair… but I don’t know where they went. I saw Joey walk over to the tea-cups a few minutes later. WAIT! Where’s Darren?” Lauren exchanged looks to both of the boys. “Did you even try phoning Darren?”  
Dylan, now feeling like an idiot, rang Darren.  
“Darren! Where are you?  
Okay, STAY THERE!  
Stay on the phone with me.  
Okay I see you.  
Bye.  
He’s by the wall ride. Let’s go.” Dylan, feeling happier that there are not only three of them anymore, told everyone where to meet Darren. They jogged over to the wall-ride and met up with the curly-haired puppy.  
“Have you guys seen Julia? I heard a gunshot near the exit of the fair… She was supposed to talk to Meredith but I can’t find her anywhere…” Darren just wanted to be by her side again. He feels so bad for getting under skin and he wants to know why she was acting strange. “She was freaking out and then she just ran to Mere. I haven’t seen her since.”  
“Hold up! There was a GUNSHOT?! I didn’t hear the damn thing!”  
“As I said earlier; I saw Mere and Juls walk out of the fair… I’ll text to see where people are.” Lauren got out her phone and started the group text;  
Recipients; Joe Walker, Jaime, Meredith, Joey, Julia.  
BeeBopLauren; Yo! Where is everybody?  
“Okay! Sent!”  
It only took seconds for people to reply. Lauren read aloud;  
“Okay, so Juls is in the café we were on earlier and Joe and Jaime are at the Manor… “  
“Is Juls with Mere in the café? “ Dylan asked.   
Lauren started texting again;  
Recipients; Joe Walker, Jaime, Meredith, Joey, Julia.  
BeeBopLauren; Yo! Where is everybody?  
JaimeLyn; At the Manor  
Walker; Manor with Jaime  
Juls; At the café across the street. 

And as soon as Lauren started typing, she got another text;  
Recipients; Joe Walker, Jaime, Meredith, Joey, Julia.  
BeeBopLauren; Yo! Where is everybody?  
JaimeLyn; At the Manor  
Walker; Manor with Jaime  
Juls; At the café across the street.  
Juls; Is Mere with you and Joey?   
“Oh fuck, she asked me if I’m with Mere and Joey! I’m calling her.”  
“Put it on speaker!” Dylan shouted over to her, over the noise of the fair. “Let’s go somewhere quieter first!”  
They walked over to the corner of the fair (near the cotton candy stand) and called Julia.  
“Hey Juls”  
“Hey, so are they with you?”  
“No, we were hoping they’d be with you…”  
“Call Jaime to see if they’re at the Manor with them. If they’re not, then something is up. Did you hear that gunshot?”  
This time, Dylan replied; “Yeah, I did!”  
“Oh, hey Dyl!”  
“Yo Juls.”  
“OKAY,” Lauren interrupted, “I’m hanging up now. BYEE!”  
It was obvious what they had to do now, “Well, let’s ask around, to see what’s happened.” Darren, clearly, had the best idea going.  
They went to the tea-cups and they saw people, in groups, crying and shouting and just plain scared.   
“Uh, hey, what’s happened here?” Darren asked a group of crying and screaming girls.  
“OHMYGOD ITS DARREN CRISS! AHHHHHH!”  
The girls bundled on top of Darren and soon enough, everyone wanted to have a go at it.  
Lauren and Dylan were trying to claw at the screaming fangirls but nothing seemed to work.  
“HEY PEASANTS! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!” Lauren, small yet loud, managed to get everyone’s attention. The beasts climbed off of Darren and he stood up with a small gash on his arm when he was toppled onto.  
“Right, now that I’ve got your attention; what happened? Did anyone hear the gunshot? AND PUT YOUR HAND UP IF YOU WANT TO ANSWER! I am not having you all shout at me and getting all confused.” Lauren instructed, feeling like she was Julia. I’d better make sure she’s still okay. I’ll ask her after I deal with these imbeciles, she thought.  
A girl, who looked only about 15 shot her hand straight up and looked like she was going to start crying.   
“Yes, you? Come here and tell me.” Lauren ushered the girl toward Lauren and brought Darren and Dylan with her.   
The groups went back to their state before dying over Darren.  
“Just before I start, I would just like to say that I’m a HUGE fan of you guys and the rest of StarKid! Okay, so what happened was, Meredith shouted over to Joey, and I don’t know why, but then she was shot twice but she was still alive. And then Meredith and Joey drove away in an ambulance. That’s all I know. Sorry if it didn’t help.” The girl started crying again.  
“Are you kidding?! That’s exactly what we needed to hear! Come here,” Lauren gave the girl a hug and signed the StarKid T-Shirt and Sunnies she was wearing. “What’s your name, kid?”  
“Rachel, Rachel Majors. My parents had a thing for The Rocky Horror Picture Show so they changed their last name to ‘Majors’ but get this; their actual names are ‘Brad’ and ‘Janet’! Ahha!”

Lauren stood there with complete shock. “That… Is… SO COOL! OMG I LOVE THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW! AHH! Okay, it was nice meeting you but we have got to go. I’ll see you around!”  
Before they left; Lauren, Dylan and Darren gave Rachel a hug and left the fair. Lauren started to text the others;  
Recipients; Joe Walker, Jaime, Meredith, Joey, Julia.  
BeeBopLauren; Yo! Where is everybody?  
JaimeLyn; At the Manor. Denise is here if you were looking for her.  
Walker; Manor with Jaime  
Juls; At the café across the street.   
BeeBopLauren; Everyone; go back to the manor. Now.  
Julia, stay in the café; we’re coming by so we can walk home together.  
The police came as they exited the fair and they walked back to the manor.  
They picked up Julia on the way back from the fair and went straight home. No one made a sound as they walked, sorry, ran back to the manor. 

Dylan furiously knocked on the door. Denise opened it after about 7 knocks.   
“Quick. We need to go. Where’s Joe and Jaime?”  
“Wait, what?” Denise asked, all confused as to what he was referring to.   
“I’ll tell you when we get the two lovebirds. C’mon. JOE AND JAIME! COME HERE NOW; WE NEED TO GO!” Darren shouted into the manor.   
Seconds after Darren had called for them, Joe and Jaime had already got their coats and shoes on. Denise dashed to get hers and locked up the manor.   
“I’m going to call Lauren and Brian. I don’t care if they’re on a date or not.” Julia dialled Lauren’s number and it only took a couple of rings for her to pick up.  
“Hey, Mere and Joey are at the hospital so we’re picking you up from the fair and we’re going to them.  
Uh huh.  
Okay.  
See you in five.”  
Julia hung up her phone and suggested to Joe to take his car seeing as there will be 10 of them leaving the hospital.  
Dylan drove his car seeing as he was the first to the row of cars. Joe, Jaime, Denise, and Dylan rode it Dyl’s car and Darren and Julia rode in Darren’s car.  
Dyl pulled up by the side of Darren’s car to say that they’ll meet them at the hospital once Julia had picked up Brian and Lauren. He drove off and left for the hospital.  
Darren drove as fast as the speed limit let him and pulled up in front of the entrance. Brian and Lauren were already waiting outside of the gate. They got in the car and drove off. This car journey wasn’t going to be silent.  
“So what happened? Why are we heading for the hospital?” Brian asked Julia as she wasn’t the one driving.  
“Meredith was shot. Twice, apparently. We’re going over to the hospital to find Joey. He rode away with her in the ambulance. Didn’t you hear sirens or the gunshots?” Julia, surprised that hardly any of them heard a thing, asked the two of them who were currently sitting in the back of the car feeling guilty.  
“N-no, we didn’t.” Lauren said, bursting into tears.  
“Oh, Lauren, it’s not your fault sweetie,” Juls felt bad, “Brian, comfort her.”   
He put his arm around the trembling Lauren and calms her. She eventually falls asleep in his lap. It’s a 20 minute drive to the hospital. It’ll be good to get a little bit of rest seeing as it was an eventful evening.   
They finally arrive at the hospital and they were glad it wasn’t that busy because a week day; no one was drunk, everyone was at work and there were only stupid teenagers in the waiting room.   
They walk over to the receptionist. She looked about 30, mousy blonde, green eyes, pretty and the thing that stood out the most; pregnant.   
Denise asked the receptionist if she knew anything about what happened to Meredith and if she knew the time when she arrived. Turns out she only arrived about half an hour or so before they did but she is in intensive care.   
“Can we go and see her?” Lauren asked, teary eyed.  
“Of course! It’s just down the hall, take the first left you see and walk up the stairs, all the way to the top. Next turn right and it’s the third door on the left. That’s Miss Stepien’s room.” The receptionist told them politely.  
“Thank you so much and congratulations on the baby. Bye,” Julia commented.  
The receptionist was so nice and lovely. She said thanks and served the next patient coming into the hospital. It was an old couple that looked about 70 and the women was in pain.   
It is always sad to see the elderly sad or in pain; all you want to do is give them a hug and smile or something.  
The group practically ran the route that the receptionist told them to take because they couldn’t wait any longer to see her.  
They arrived in the room to see Meredith lying in bed and Joey holding her hand, crying, still listening to Sidekick on full blast. He looked up to see his friends crowding him and hugging him. Joey didn’t refuse the hugs and he broke down in Darren’s arms.   
Meredith wasn’t on life support. She wasn’t unconscious, in a coma or even dead. She had been put to sleep and on a drip.   
“Her operation is tomorrow, to get the bullets out of her. She will have to stay in the hospital for at least two weeks with having to come back here for check-up on her future stiches. She’ll have to be careful and not do any big activities for 3 months but after that; she’ll be fine,” Joey said through sobbing and sniffles.  
“Joey, I just wanted to say that what happened to Meredith is not your fault so don’t beat yourself up about it. It was unfortunate that she was the one in front of the bullet. It could have been anyone so please don’t think that you caused this pain to her, because you didn’t. Do you hear me, Jospeh Michael Richter; This. Is. Not. Your. Fault, “ Dylan lectured Joey.   
Just before anyone could say anything else, there was a gentle knock on the door and everyone stood up.  
“Hello, my name is Doctor Tenant an-“  
“OHMYGOD like the Tenth Doctor?!” Lauren squeeled.  
“Uh, sure. I was just going to inform you that we have seen the x-rays and have located exactly where the bullets are. They are so deep that I am going have to operate right now. All of you will have to leave. I am sorry to take your friend away from you but it is for her own health.” The Doctor said.  
Everyone stood there, tears forming on their eyes and not wanting to leave Mere’s side…


	8. Hospital

Chapter 8 

 

Beep… beep… beep… beep. Beeeeeeep…… beep… beep… bep… bep…. Beeeeep… beep… beep… 

The alternating pattern of Meredith’s heartbeat kept stopping the hearts of her closest friends. Her family should be arriving soon but all they could see was her head and sheets covering her body. 

“This is so unfair… Why,” Joey broke down again, this time Darren cradling him for comfort. 

The doctors had turned the P.A system on in the operating room and the screen was transparent once more so they could hear and see everything that was going on inside. The doctors started cutting her open, revealing her intestines, and her abdomen. 

“The bullets, all 3, are roughly in the same place. It won’t take long to get them out, that is, everything goes smoothly. And don’t worry; she hasn’t got any fatal wounds. All of the bullets surprisingly didn’t puncture any of her organs. Wow…” The doctor reassured them, without seeing them. Just after that announcement, her parents arrived. “Hello, Mr and Mrs Stepien. Thanks for coming as soon as possible.” Jaime hugged them and sat back down. The girls were hugging Meredith’s parents and the boys were shaking their hands and giving Mrs Stepien a kiss on the cheek for good manners. “David should be here soon,” Mrs Stepien said, holding back her tears and her voice trembling. “Thank you, all of you,” Mr Stepien said to the StarKids. They understood it must have been as hard for them as it is for the StarKids. 

“The first bullet is out!” The doctor informed his co-workers and the visitors for Meredith. 

Bepbepbepbepbep… beep… beep… beep… beeeeeep……….. beep… beep… beep… beep… 

“Everything is under control again, people.” 

Everyone could breathe once more. Meredith’s heartbeat was nerve wrecking but just as long as she was okay; everyone else was, and her health was the only thing that mattered at the moment. 

Everyone stared in silence, their focus on Meredith’s open and wounded body. Eventually Joey got up and walked out of the observation room. He was on his way to the male toilets to freshen up when Dylan called his name and ran up to him so they could talk. “Hey, how are you holding up,” Dylan asked Joey, obviously knowing the answer. “I, uh, I just don’t know really. Like, I only just got her and now she’s on an operating tables getting bullets removed from her? I should have reacted quicker, it should have been me…” “No! Joey, don’t, okay? There was nothing you could have done! You need to stop blaming yourself for things that you didn’t do, or what you should have done. It was just unfortunate that the gunner chose Meredith as a walking target. It could have been anyone. Better it was her than a baby, who may not have lived, huh?” “Yeah,” Joey agreed, “True. But why would anyone be that twisted to even shoot a person? It’s sick.” Joey was about to cry again, but he tweet from one of his fans. It read; (From @RonTheSidekick) @JoeyRichter Hey, good news! They’ve found the gunner and he is being arrested right now! Check out the news. 

“Hey, Dyl, they have found him! Let’s go outside so I can put my data on,” Joey said excitedly. They jogged through the hospital, walking when doctors and nurses were in sight and dodging people on gurneys. They saw the door on their left and sprinted for it but had to drift-stop when a few people walked in. Just as they were going to walk out of the door, another five people on gurneys were being wheeled in. It got to the second person and they stood there bored. “You have GOT to be kidding me,” Dylan whispered to Joey, clearly annoyed at how long it was 

taking the paramedics to wheel the people in. There was one person in a wheelchair and finally, that was the last of the injured coming in for a while. The walked out of the doors and sat on a bench just outside of the hospital. Both Joey and Dylan took their phones out of their pockets and checked the news on the internet. “Holy shit… they really have got him.” Joey breathed, shocked and happy at the same time. “Yeah, Meredith was really lucky… It says that he has killed two people in the ally way tonight. That must have been what we heard when we were walking to the fair.” Dylan said. 

They sat there for twenty minutes when they had decided that they had finally had enough of the silence. They walked back into the hospital and the news was on. It was about the gunner and they had announced the date and time; the 3th of July, 22:38. “It’s a shame that those two people died,” Joey said, gloomy from his night. “Yeah,” Dylan answered, “But somewhere in the world, another will die at this very moment. It could even be someone close to us. It could be a complete stranger. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be me! But let’s just enjoy the life we are living at this moment in time. 

The news reporter was signing off and the television shut down. They strolled back to the over-looking room of the operation. “Hey guys, they—,“ Joey started but was quickly interrupted by the surgeon. “And that’s the third bullet! No major blood loss, and her heart seems to be in the regular pattern. She has had no drastic changes and everything went well. We’re gonna stitch her up and send her back to her room.” The doctor announced. Everyone was thrilled that it went well. They started hugging each other and crying of happiness. This was the perfect time to announce the news about the killer. “Hey, guys! Good news, they have found the killer!” Joey was now smiling properly and everyone started hugging him. They were all squeezing out of the room now and they just stood there talking to each other for a couple of minutes. They decided to walk back to Meredith’s room, slowly, and talked about the news. Mr Stepien got a text from David, saying that he was just parking and would be coming to her room as soon as he as a token for the meter. “Hey, Joey,” Mr Stepien whispered to him, pulling him aside and walking behind everyone else. “I just wanted to tell you that I am glad that you were the one inside that ambulance with her and that you were the one who stayed with her from the moment it started until now. And please, can you promise me something?” “Sure,” Joey said, wanting to get on his good-side seeing as he was dating his daughter… “Please, please, please don’t blame yourself for this. It wasn’t your fault. You know that, right?” Joey had to think about it for a couple of seconds, because he felt like it was his fault. He thought that if he hadn’t called her back then she wouldn’t be in this situation. But he had to consider that Mr Stepien was much wiser than he was and that he should just accept the fact that it really wasn’t his fault; there wasn’t anything he could have done. It was fate. “Yeah. Thanks, Mr Stepien,” Joey said, shaking his hand. Just then, David came running up behind them and said, “How is she?” “She’s fine now. The operation went great and they’re taking her back to her room now, which is where we’re heading now.” Joey said, with a smile on his face. He truly felt like he wasn’t such a failure now. He felt like finally did something right. 

They made it back to the room just as the doctors did. They moved out of the way so they could push Meredith through and set up her support system. “Meredith,” the doctor started to say, “will have to be on the support system for a couple of days. He’s perfectly fine, but she just needs to recover from this traumatizing experience. Mumbles lingered the room because they won't be able to communicate with Mere. That killed them inside. They were supposed to have a great night out and now this? She's lying in a hospital 

bed, unconscious. They wanted to hug her and tell her that they’re sorry even though they had nothing to do with the shooting. It just wasn’t fair that it was her. Sure, they'd feel bad if it was someone else but at the end of the day, she was the one that was shot and none of them like it. 

 

Hours had passed in the near-silent hospital room. The beeping of the machine and the long sighs of everyone in the room was driving Julia mad. "Hey, Darren?" Julia tried to get his attention by nudging him as well. "Hm?" He looked up at her, and he was tired. Tired of the shit they had to deal with today, tired because they woke up at an unreasonable time, and tired of Julia because of how she treated him earlier. Sure, she said she was sorry, but he still didn’t like it. "Wanna leave," Julia suggested, "I can call a cab?" "Okay." Darren said, bluntly. He really wasn’t in the mood at the moment and he didn't particularly wanted to argue with Juls about calling a cab or something she wanted. He knows it was rude of him to think that way but he really didn’t care right now. "Can I," Juls whispered to him, not wanting disturbing anymore, "can I talk to you outside for a sec? It'll be quick." They both got up and shut the door quietly as they left the room. "What do you want, Juls?" Julia started crying at the tone of his voice. It wasn’t fair that he was treating her like this. Especially because of what she was about to tell him. Speaking of, she puked up on him and now he was really pissed. "JULIA, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!" Darren shouted at her in a harsh whisper. "I think I'm pregnant." Julia told him through sobs. "That's my problem, and your's too."


	9. chapter 9

There were no words, only tears that were making Julia’s big, blue and green eyes shimmer. She stood there with her hands on her face and Darren’s arms around her. His big, fluffy hair cushioning the side of her head.   
Darren pulled back took her hands in his and asked, “Are you sure you’re pregnant?”  
“I’ve skipped a period by a week and a half. I’m 80 percent I’m pregnant.”  
Darren looked at her with his forehead scrunched up but also with a smile, “Julia, this is—“  
“Is everything alright out here,” Joe came out of Meredith’s room with a concern look on his face.  
“Everything is fine, Joe. We’re going to go home and rest.” Darren said with reassurance.   
Joe went back into the room and closed the door.  
“You were saying,” Julia said to Darren, egging him to carry on;  
“I was saying that I think this is fantastic news! I am so overwhelmed that I feel like an idiot for not noticing this sooner!”  
“Darren”, Julia started, “I don’t know if I’m 100% sure if I have a bun-in-the-oven yet, remember? Just because I’m late doesn’t make it definite. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and see gross placenta blood all over our sheets just because I thought I was pregnant.”   
They both stood in silence, grossed out by what Julia had just said and a little buzzed out. That really put a damper on their mood.  
A moment after, Darren asked, “Why don’t we just ask for a pregnancy test here? We’re in the hospital, and what better way to be sure than a doctor telling you?”  
“Yeah, sure.”  
They both walked down to reception.

Everyone was on the verge of sleeping when there was a sudden increase of speed of the beeps that was monitoring how fast Meredith’s heart-beat was going. They all jolted up to see if she was okay and she started to shake. Joey, like a bolt, pushed the emergency button, knelt down by her side and began to cry again. The doctor came in, pushed a few buttons and everything was back to normal again.  
“It was just her drip malfunctioning. She’s perfectly fine now.” The doctor reassured them all. Everyone but Joey.  
“Yeah, that’s what you said last time, Doc. She clearly wasn’t ‘fine’ just then. Are there going to be other ‘malfunctions’, huh?! ARE YOU GOING TO MAKE US PANIC AGAIN, DOC?! BECAUSE I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE, I JUS—“  
“Joey, calm down, alright? If anything happens again, we all know where the button is. Please don’t feel like this…” David was now standing next to Joey, with his hand on his shoulder. Joey looked up, al watery-eyed and put if fore-head back on the bed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any of that.”  
“We know, buddy,” Dylan piped up.   
Soon enough they were all drifting back to sleep.  
Darren and Julia were now in the waiting are, anticipating the results of the test. It had only been 30 seconds but they were both shaking with anticipation, awaiting those important results.  
1 minute, 1 minutes 30 seconds… 5 minutes had gone and the doctor came back. Seeing as Julia had done a test at the hospital, the results took longer to receive. Feeling really hot and clammy, Julia decided to take a step outside.  
Darren was waiting alone in his shock whilst shaking his leg in nervousness. Did he even want the baby? Well, of course he did! The real question is; is he ready? A tear streamed down his face and his eyes became partly bloodshot from crying. Fiddling with his hands was the only way he could settle his emotions.  
Both Julia and the Doctor came back.  
"Yeah, she's just got food poisoning. She's probably late on her menstrual cycle and that's why she thought she was pregnant."  
Darren stood up and shook his hand," Thank you."  
The Doctor walked away, with a clipboard in his hand and a skip in his step. Just another piece of work done for him.  
"How do you feel about this?" Julia asked Darren, looking up to his tear-ridden face.  
"Relieved, I guess. I mean, were we even ready for something like this?" Darren put his hands back in his face, took a deep breath in and sighed. Taking his hands away, he leant into Julia and kissed her gently on her perfectly plump lips. They stung a little bit after crying but other than that, Darren made her feel warm inside, cosy. She just wanted to go home and cuddle with him.  
“C’mon, let’s go.”

Meredith started to regain consciousness the next morning. She turned over on her side and saw Joey sleeping and winced and the pain while doing it. It wasn’t a surprise to see Joey lying in an almost plank position with his arms crossed, and mouth open, snoring.   
She didn’t want to wake him up, not after the stress he’s been through.   
As if he was reading her mind, he jolted up, almost choking on the snore he had yet to finish.   
“Mere!” Joey exclaimed quietly, after all, it was 6.a.m. and they had both just woken up.  
Meredith smiled weakly and blinked. Joey got up and stretched for a second and then brought the chair over to her bedside and asked how she was feeling.  
“Weird. I feel weird. And slightly lost. That anaesthetic really worked, I guess. But in ‘wound’ terms, not all that great. It hurts like a bitch and I feel like if I even breathe too hard my chest is going to implode.”   
Joey took her hand and kissed it. He had dry lips. He hadn’t drank anything in at least a day. The scratchy-ness of his beard made Meredith smile. She was glad to be back. Not to normal just yet. But she was working on it.   
“As soon as you get out of here, I’m going to take you to a nice hotel and stay there for a weekend. We can go and do whatever you want. I just want some time with you other than in a dusty hospital room,” Joey stated, as he let go of her hand and made his way to the door so he could get some water.  
“Wow, Joey Richter. You know how to impress a girl with dreams on her first real date. Where are you going? Don’t leave!” Meredith started to panic. The beeps of the monitor were progressively getting faster.  
“Woah, slow down there, Mere! I’m just going to get a drink. Do you want anything?”  
Her heart rate slowed down as she came down from her panic attack. “Uh, yeah, a coke please.”

Joey left her and came back in a matter of seconds. She wasn’t expecting anyone to come in anytime soon so she made her way to the toilet. Meredith looked at herself in the mirror and evaluated herself. She looked so tired, so weak.   
She came back with a surprise in her room. Not only was it a surprise, it was a surprise that she wanted to see. But by the look on the surprises face, the surprise wasn’t here to give hugs.  
Any guesses?

“What do you want, Bonnie?”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I apologize for the 1. Lack of sense of written work (I blame it on the lack of sleep and exams and rushing to finish my chapters) and 2. Updates because I have had such bad writers block and I just keep forgetting to write anything. Hopefully this chapter is an improvement. I hope that y’all will forgive me for my tardiness and I love all of you dearly :P

Bonnie stepped forward towards the light so that Meredith could see her whole body. She slowly closed this door and sat down on the bed next to Meredith and stared at her. Mere reached over for her emergency button which alerted Bonnie that she was unwanted.  
“Are you going to answer me?! Why are you here?” Meredith wasn’t annoyed, she was angry. Why was she here all of a sudden after all of these years? Sure, she congratulated Meredith on ‘replacing’ her role as Hermione but other than that, there was no contact from her for years.  
“I know you don’t want me here, but here me out. If the others find out I am here they would gather shotguns and just shoot the hell out of me. I just wanted to see you. I heard over twitter about your injury and I wanted to see how bad it was.” Bonnie sat hunched over, fiddling with her fingers and picking off her cherry-red nail varnish,.  
“Well”, Meredith scoffed,” as you can see, it is pretty awful. I hurt everywhere and if I am being totally honest, you being here isn’t making it any better.”  
Bonnie had gotten the message. She knew she wasn’t wanted. That was obvious from the start and she really needed to hurry up and leave before the others come back and jump down her throat.  
“Well, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”  
She stood up slapped her hands on her thighs when doing so. She sighed and smiled apologetically at Meredith. Before leaving, she put an arm around Mere. She slowly walked over to the door and opened it, checking if anyone was outside in the halls or something. Luckily, no one was there and she left the door open when she exited from the right.   
This left Meredith all alone, at last, in the room. She sighed deeply and looked over to the bedside table that had a shabby lamp placed upon it. There was a note with a phone number. She glanced at it and screwed it up. It’s obviously Bonnie’s thought Meredith and she tossed it in the bin right beside her bed.  
Joey came in with the can of Coca Cola that she asked for moments before Bonnie had entered her room. “One tooth-eroding drink for my lady,” Joey opened the can and brought out an orange straw from behind his back, which must have been hidden in his back pocket. He handed her the can with a slanted grin upon his gorgeous face. This made Meredith giggle with glee. She loved to see Joey as his silly yet caring self. She noticed the huge, black bags that hung low under his eyes and immediately felt guilty for making him go through this.   
“Joey, why don’t you go home and go to sleep? I’ll still be here tomorrow. You need to rest.” Meredith said this in the least offensive way possible. She wanted Joey to be at her side all of the time and to tell her that he wasn’t going to leave her. However, she understood that this affects him dearly, like not getting enough sleep or not eating a few meals just to stay by her side 24/7.   
“Don’t you want me here?” Joey asked with a hint of hurt in his voice. Maybe I’m smothering her…  
“Joey, of course I want you here! But have you eaten in the past day? Or have you slept properly? I can’t be selfish and keep you here when this is having a bigger toll on your health than mine. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I kept you here. Go. Have a nap and order pizza or something. I’ll still be waiting for you right here in this bed when you come back. I love you and you know that. I am not going to take ‘no’ as an answer because it’s a stupid ass answer.”  
Joey stood up and kissed her on the forehead. He looked at his watch to see it was 06:52am.   
“Okay,” Joey sighed and slightly smiled,” I’ll go home for some rest. Yeah, I could use some sleep. I’ll see you about midday. I’ll order pizza and I’ll bring it over here for lunch. How does that sound?”  
Meredith was happy that he listened to her. “Perfect.”  
“I love you Mere. Don’t you die on me during the night,” joey said half-jokingly, half not.   
The manor was absolutely silent when Joey returned. It was coming up to 07:15 and the sun was blazing through the blinds of the huge double garden doors that was opposite to the entrance.  
Joey had to take a taxi home seeing as everyone went home quite late last night and nobody told him that they were leaving.   
He entered the kitchen to see Lauren and Jaime-Lyn sitting at the breakfast bar, whispering with steaming cups of coffee in their hands. Jaime-Lyn glanced up to see a tired Joey. She stood up and gave him a lingering hug. Joey really needed the affection right now and so he she reached up on the tip of her toes so that Joey could place his head on her shoulder. Lauren walked over to him with a tear in her eye and hugged him from is left side, Only getting her arms three-quarters of the way around Jaime-Lyn and Joey because her tanned arms weren't long enough. This made Joey smile and take a deep breath in. He was glad to be home. Even if Meredith wasn’t here with him because home is where (most of) the family/friends are and he made sure to never forget it.  
"How is she? Is she better?" Lauren asked quietly, making sure that the others don't wake up because it was only 07:40 which was still midnight to some people in the house.   
"She is going to be okay. She's moving around now. I only came back to get some sleep before I order pizza at midday and bring it to the hospital for Meredith when she wakes up." Joey confirmed he progress and yawned, indicating that he was too tired to talk for much longer.  
Joey let the girls go and went up to bed straight away, not brushing his teeth or washing his face because his hand-eye co-ordination was not great after not sleeping for what seemed like days in that really uncomfortable chair that was not designed for sleeping in at all. He fell onto his bed, stripping face down. All he had left on was his boxers and his socks that he was too exhausted to take off properly. 

Downstairs, the girls had vacated to the living room with hot coffee in their hands and sat on the massive U-shaped sofa that was located in the centre of the room. Lauren grabbed the remote and turned on the TV to find the News Anchor talking about the shooting of Meredith.   
"Turn it off," Jaime-Lyn pleaded, "I don't want to have to come home and watch what we already know, and then some."  
Lauren switched the channel to E! and started watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians.   
"It's always funny watching Scott get chased around the house by Kourtney with a huge dildo strap-on."  
"He deserves it," Jaime-Lyn giggled, seeing Lord Disick almost cry has never been funnier.  
The humour progressed through the show even though they had seen this episode a few times before. They thought that the Kardashians were never boring nor humourless.  
They heard a couple of thuds upstairs. It was from the others waking up because they were laughing so loud.  
"SHUT YOUR FAT FACES, IT'S THE ASS-CRACK OF DAWN!" Dylan shouted from upstairs, evidently wanting to stay upstairs and sleep.   
Others came down stairs; Brian, Joe Walker and Denise.   
"Did we wake?" Jaime asked apologetically. She looked at Lauren and tilted her lip up as if to say 'oops'.  
"No," Brian said, "It was Dylan's fat face that woke us up. Or me, at least."  
Denise went to the kitchen and poured herself some coffee and got the ingredients out to make pancakes. "Who wants pancakes, dolls?"  
As the group made noises that sounded like they were saying yes, they all gathered around the breakfast bar and sat down on the stools.   
"So, how is Joey? Has he gotten any sleep since the last night?" Brian perked up.   
Jaime put down her cup of coffee and told everyone that Joey had only just gone up to bed and is waking up at noon. The others quietened down in good consideration so they could let Joey sleep in peace, even if Dylan had just shouted to the heavens.   
Others grabbed coffee and sat back down. The silence they were sharing wasn't awkward, but calming. It was nice to just sit down with cups of scolding hot coffee and the sweet smell of pancakes and not have to worry about anything. For right now.   
As Denise stacked the pancakes, the StarKids grabbed plates from the cupboard and cutlery from the drawers. Each one of them lined up and took a couple of pancakes each from the plate on which they were stacked. They all vacated back to the living room and thanked Denise for making them pancakes. The pancakes were needed after a hard couple of days or so, it was definitely a temporary release.  
Lauren put her plate and cup in the dish washer and silently snuck upstairs with a couple of spare pancakes and a cup of coffee. They were for Dylan. She knew that he wasn’t asleep. Once he woke up, he couldn't get back to sleep.   
She reached the top of the stairs and took a left to go down a hallway and then she entered the last room on the right; Dylan's room.  
She didn't bother knocking. She opened the door and walked over to the bedside table and put the plate and mug on it and climbed into bed with Dylan. He was on the far side of the bed with his back turned to the door.  
"Wanna talk?"  
"Not really," Dylan tiredly admitted.  
Dylan sat up and he looked at Lauren with weary eyes. He opened his arms up and she leant in and put her head on his chest. They sat there for a while, just in silence.   
After what seemed like forever, Lauren sat up and handed Dylan the pancakes.   
"Who made them," Dylan asked with caution. He knows that if Lauren made them that they were more than likely going to give him violent diahhrea.   
"Denise did. They have chocolate chips in them." Lauren tried to sell the pancakes to him as much as she could. She also knew that he hadn't really eaten since Meredith was shot. Lauren didn't know what Dylan was thinking but he knew that he has put on a brave face and has taken the hit for everyone. Either he has had enough and just needed a break from all of this drama or he had something else on his mind.  
"It just sucks, you know? Why couldn't it have been someone random? Why Meredith? I'm not saying that I feel anything in that way for her, but it is such a bummer." Dylan finally confessed what was getting him down.  
"I know, Dyl. I know. But you know what? That's just the way the world is. You can't stop the bad people because if you get in their way, they are just going to drag you down with their hate and disgust towards the world. No one needs that in their lives. Not even the bad people that do those things to good people. The bad people are bad because other bad people have made them that way." Lauren got a little teary-eyed.  
Dylan looked at Lauren and gave her a lingering kiss on her forehead. It wasn't an affectionate kiss but more of a grateful kiss. He had never really had a deep conversation with Lauren before. They had been close, but not as close as they are now. He thought that it was nice to have someone to lean on and someone to vent to. He really did feel better about the whole situation. And he didn't really know why he was beating himself up so much. He wasn't even anywhere near where the shooting happened. There wasn't anything that he could do. Even though that him and Meredith were best friends, he could only feel like he was to blame because he couldn't do anything and because of it, he felt like a failure.  
"Seriously though, Dylan, don't beat yourself up about it. Okay?" Lauren kissed him on the cheek and left the room, shutting the door behind her.   
Dylan decided to get out of bed and get dressed. It was coming up to 08:15. He looked out of the window to see nothing but trees and sky. His room was on the side of the Manor and the view was really incredible. You carry down just a little bit more down the hallway with Dylan's room (along with Darren and Julia's, Lauren and Jaime's, and also Brian Holden's. On the other wing it was Joe Walker, Joey, and Meredith and Denise's rooms) you can go onto a balcony that overlooks the huge back garden with a big pool, a hot tub, a fire pit, and a BBQ/bar, alongside beautiful greenery.  
Dylan took a quick shower and drank his coffee. He couldn't be bothered to dress up nice today so he went with his casual look; grey sleeveless/t-shirt like shirt, dark blue jeans and a pair of black converse. He brushed his teeth and left his room. Every StarKid was lucky to have an en suite in their rooms which was cool because no one really had to share.  
He left his room and went down stairs. Everyone was still in their pyjamas which was lucky for him because he didn't want anyone to tag along when he went to Dunkin' Donuts. If they weren't buying, he didn't want anyone there.   
"I'm going out for about an hour or so," he announced to everyone. They were all looking at him in confusion. Except for Lauren, of course.   
He grabbed his keys and left in his car.  
"What's wrong with Dylan?" Jaime asked, she was genuinely concerned for him. She knew how Dylan can be after something big or sad happens. He doesn't know how to tell everyone how he is feeling because he's so tough and him also doesn't like to burden others with how he feels about certain things. However, everyone knew that he wasn't afraid of sharing his opinion.  
"He just needs some time," Lauren said. Even though no one said anything after that, they all agreed.

Back at the hospital, Meredith was only just awaking. It was coming up to 9am and the nurse came in to her room to give her breakfast; orange juice and toast. As Meredith thanked the nurse, she sat up to eat and the nurse left.  
Meredith was alone. Again. The last time that happened, Bonnie sneak-attacked her. She didn't want another rendition of that debacle. Especially with Bonnie. Meredith wished she asked the nurse if she could set up the TV but then she remembered that she had her phone with her and, luckily, her headphones too.   
She started to listen to a StarKid playlist that she made for everyone. It contains every song that they have ever sang. She also added songs from Little White Lie and Jim and the Povolos. She even has some songs from Talk Fine on the playlist. A little bit of Nick Gage and also Darren Criss. Meredith only does this because she misses everyone being together so she put everyone's music together to bring everyone together. Hell, everyone misses everyone.   
The Way I Do started to play and she shed a tear because of how great the song was and because she love doing that scene with Dylan. He was such talented actor and a great friend. Meredith loved working with him and she was lucky enough to live with him.   
"Knock, knock," Dylan joked. His timing was impeccable and she loved that he was here with her.   
"Hey Dyl, sleep well?" Meredith turned off her music and put down her phone. She saw that he was holding a Dunkin' Donuts bag and a coffee cup holder which contained 2 large cups of whatever beverage Dylan bought.  
"Uh, yeah, kinda. But hey, how are you holding up? How's that wound healing, huh?" Dylan said with a big smile on his face. He took the Cookie's and Cream donut out of the bag and put it onto a napkin on Meredith's bedside table. He also put one of the cups down next to the donut. He also put down a couple of cream pots and about 5 sugar packs down next to the cup.  
"For me, you shouldn't have!" Eating hospital food for the past day has put her off of all hospital food ever. She was genuinely happy to be drinking her coffee and eating her favourite donut.   
"Any for you, Mere. You know that," Dylan went over and hugged her. He missed Meredith and her smile, completely friendship related. Dylan just missed being around one of his closest friends, the companionship game was strong between them and no one could take that away from them. It was great because Meredith felt the same way. She valued their friendship dearly.   
He sat down on the chair beside her bed and pulled out a glazed donut out of the bag and took the biggest bite that anyone has ever seen; he almost finished the whole donut in one bite.   
"Mere, I was thinking maybe we should all go on holiday. All of us. Like, we should invite Joe Moses and Jim and Brian Rosenthal. It think it would a great idea to get outta this place for a while. Got to Europe or something." Dylan suggested this because he also needed a huge break.   
"I couldn’t agree more! I need to get out of here. This whole drama has put a damper on everything. I think it would be awesome to go somewhere for a week or two. Yeah, let's do it." Meredith agreed with the plan to go on holiday for a few weeks while she was finishing up her donut.  
"Well, where do you want to go? Pick a place in Europe and we can go," Dylan said. Both were getting excited now.   
"Spain could be really cool. There's a theme park that I really want to visit. I read up on it. I think it's called Port Aventura. It's in Salou, I believe." Meredith recalled this knowledge that she researched years ago. She was wanting to go there for a long time.  
"Well, Miss Stepien, Port Aventura it is!"  
Dylan was already searching ticket prices...


End file.
